US coast battered by wind, rain as Hurricane Florence closes in

WILMINGTON, United States, Sept 14, 2018 (BSS/AFP) -
Hurricane Florence battered the Carolinas Friday with
howling winds, life-threatening storm surges and
torrential rains as it came to close making landfall
in what officials warned is a once in a lifetime
event.
Forecasters warned of catastrophic flooding and other
mayhem from the monster storm, which is only Category
1 but physically sprawling and dangerous. Reports
said coastal streets in North Carolina were flooded
and winds bent trees to the ground as the storm,
which has been downgraded several times in recent
days, weakened and is slower moving than before,
prepared to make landfall Friday.
Nearly 300,000 customers in North Carolina were
reported to be without power as the outer band of the
storm approached.
Footage from US TV outlets showed raging waters
hitting piers and jettys and rushing across coastal
roads in seaside communities. The National Hurricane
Center in Miami reported "life-threatening storm
surge and hurricane-force winds" along the North
Carolina coast.
In its 0900 GMT advisory, the center said Florence
was over the Atlantic Ocean about 25 miles (35
kilometers) east of Wilmington, North Carolina and
moving northwest at six miles per hour (10 kilometers
per hour).
It added that the maximum sustained winds were 90
miles per hour. Florence is now at the weakest of
five categories on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
The storm is about to make landfall in North
Carolina, the center said. In a display of the early
effects of the storm, one flood gauge on the Neuse
River in New Bern, North Carolina, showed 10 feet
(three meters) of flooding, the NHC said.
With winds picking up along the coastline earlier
Thursday, federal and state officials had issued
final appeals to residents to get out of the path of
the "once in a lifetime" weather system.
"This storm will bring destruction," North Carolina
Governor Roy Cooper said. "Catastrophic effects will
be felt."
In Wilmington, a steady rain began to fall as gusts
of winds intensified, causing trees to sway and
stoplights to flicker.
Avair Vereen, 39, took her seven children to a
shelter in Conway High School near Myrtle Beach,
South Carolina.
"We live in a mobile home so we were just like 'No
way,'" she said. "If we lose the house, oh well, we
can get housing.
"But we can't replace us so we decided to come here."
Steve Goldstein of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration said Florence's forward
motion had slowed and it was not expected to make
landfall in the Carolinas until "some time Friday
afternoon, Friday evening or Saturday morning."
He said hurricane-force winds extended outward 80
miles from the center of the storm and tropical
storm-force winds extended nearly 200 miles out.
Some areas could receive as much as 40 inches (one
meter) of rain, forecasters said.
"This rainfall will produce catastrophic flash
flooding and prolonged significant river flooding,"
the NHC said.
A tornado watch was also in effect for parts of North
Carolina.
Brock Long, the administrator of the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), warned the danger
was not only along the coast: "Inland flooding kills
a lot of people, unfortunately, and that's what we're
about to see," he said.
About 1.7 million people in North Carolina, South
Carolina and Virginia are under voluntary or
mandatory evacuation orders and millions of others
live in areas likely to be affected by the storm.
Myrtle Beach, a South Carolina beach resort, was
virtually deserted with empty streets, boarded up
storefronts and very little traffic.
A state of emergency has been declared in five
coastal states - North Carolina, South Carolina,
Georgia, Maryland and Virginia.
Duke Energy, a power company in the Carolinas,
estimated that one million to three million customers
could lose electricity because of the storm and that
it could take weeks to restore.
" 'I'm not worried at all' -
Not everybody was heeding orders to evacuate,
however.
Antonio Ramirez, a construction worker from El
Salvador living in Leland, North Carolina, said he
planned to ride out the worst of the weather with his
dog Canelo.
"The shelters are not taking dogs," Ramirez said.
"I'm not leaving him here.
In Wilmington, residents who had decided not to
evacuate were lining up to get ice from a vending
machine - $2 for a 16-pound (7.2-kilo) bag.
"I have no generator," said Petra Langston, a nurse.
"I learned from the past to keep the ice in the
washing machine."
Perched on the porch of his home, carpenter Tony
Albright was calmly awaiting Florence's arrival, beer
in hand.
"I built this house myself, so I'm not worried at
all, I know it's solid," he said. "I charged the
batteries of my electronic devices, I have beers and
video games."
"The only thing missing in there is a hot lady."